Honeymoon: Day 2

We woke up on the first full day of our honeymoon to the same beautiful weather as the day before.

Really, I woke up about 8:30 a.m., ready to get on with the vacation. I laid there for about a half hour, thinking how I should probably let my husband sleep. However, I couldn't find the remote, and the TV was stuck on some movie in Chinese. Pretty soon I couldn't take it, and I nudged Nate to wake him up.

We went to the only restaurant at the resort that we knew served breakfast and found it to be a buffet. I tried some tropical fruits and learned that I really like starfruit and some kind of citrus fruit that I still don't know what it was.

We went to the water sports hut and made sure to sign up for snorkeling the next day, and then we donned some bright yellow life jackets and stepped into a matching double kayak.

I had on my wide-brimmed woven sun hat, that I got for $5 at one of the summer flea markets at home, and used the ugly strap under my chin to make sure that it didn't blow off in the bay.

The water was so gorgeous. The color went from turquoise to a deep blue when it grew deeper, and it was quite warm. We could see the Piton mountains all around us and in the distance Castries looked pretty with all the different colored roofs of the buildings, a different sight than the city is up close.

When we took the boat in, we grabbed some drinks and waded into the ocean. I had my eye on one of these rings that floated with a trampoline-like material in the center, so you could float without being submerged. The moment people left them, someone else crawled in, so I stalked one until it was empty.

Nate and I floated in it, just enjoying the bright sun contrasting with the cool water. I don't even know how to describe how peaceful and relaxing that moment was. I thought I could do that for the rest of vacation.

However, pretty soon it was lunch time. We grabbed some nachos and fresh-caught tuna at the beach restaurant and then went to change.

That afternoon we had planned to go to the park that was just off the side of our resort, at the edge of the peninsula we were situated on.

We put on our walking shoes and sweats, packed my camera, some bug spray, sunscreen and a couple bottles of St. Lucian water and set out.

"I'm glad I have a wife that will go hiking with me," Nate said, and I also liked that we were doing something a little bit different than the regular resort activities.

We walked by the Atlantic Ocean on the west side of the island, passing by a number of local people who were on lunch break or parked by the water just to enjoy the view. We talked about a large rock in the distance that was white, coming to the conclusion that the white was actually just a deep layer of bird poop as we saw seagulls flying around it.

We got to the park entrance and saw that it had an admission fee of $5 U.S., so we turned around and went back to the room. Only on the resort for a day, we had already gotten to everything being included and hadn't brought money with us.

We then walked full circle and paid our admission fee to the park.

The peninsula was once the home of the British Fort Rodney, used as a look-out point as the British tried to keep the island of St. Lucia from being taken over by the French. Buildings in the park were in ruins, but it was interesting to see where people lived and worked and ate.

We then hiked up to one peak, sweating profusely in the hot sun and stagnant, humid air. On top of the fort, I pulled out my Rebel XL camera and realized the battery was dead after travel. So much for that, so Nate pulled out his iPhone and took some gorgeous pictures as we overlooked our resort and the expansive ocean. You could even see Martinique island about 40 miles away, just a shadow in the distance.

Then we headed to the twin peak on the other side of the peninsula, climbing a less worn path. I'll admit, I almost didn't make it. The heat got to me, and I thought I was going to throw up when we finally reached the top. Even up there though, the breeze didn't come and rescue me. I just kept telling myself that it was for Nate, and I wanted to be the kind of wife that would always follow her husband to the ends of the Earth, or the top of the local peaks anyway.

I fell asleep almost the moment we got back to our air-conditioned room, and then we dressed up for the night.

Setting out for dinner, I was a little upset finding out that everything was closed except for a Caribbean buffet at the restaurant we ate at that morning. I didn't want another buffet, so I pouted a little but we went anyway.

It turned out to be delicious. This was the night that they celebrated the St. Lucian heritage, and we ate local food like grilled fish, jerk chicken, sushi, fry bread and other delicious stuff. In the background, a steel drum band played some amazing music.

We saw some local culture in the dancing, and I even joined in when they invited audience members to come up.

Then we hit the hay, after a beautiful second day of our honeymoon.